Introductory Note
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Bellows, Henry Adams
For cowardly fear | in a glove wast thou fain to crawl,
And there forgot thou wast Thor;
Afraid there thou wast, | thy fear was such,
To fart or sneeze | lest Fjalar should hear.”
Thor spake:
27. “Thou womanish Harbarth, | to hell would I smite thee straight,
Could mine arm reach over the sound.”
[131]
Harbarth spake:
28. “Wherefore reach over the sound, | since strife we have none?
What, Thor, didst thou do then?”
Thor spake:
29. “Eastward I was, | and the river I guarded well,
Where the sons of Svarang | sought me there;
Stones did they hurl; | small joy did they have of winning;
Before me there | to ask for peace did they fare.
What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?”
Harbarth spake:
30. “Eastward I was, | and spake with a certain one,
I played with the linen-white maid, | and met her by stealth;
I gladdened the gold-decked one, | and she granted me joy.”
Thor spake:
31. “Full fair was thy woman-finding.”
[132]
Harbarth spake:
32. “Thy help did I need then, Thor, | to hold the white maid fast.”
Thor spake:
33. “Gladly, had I been there, | my help to thee had been given.”
Harbarth spake:
34. “I might have trusted thee then, | didst thou not betray thy troth.”
Thor spake:
35. “No heel-biter am I, in truth, | like an old leather shoe in spring.”
Harbarth spake:
36. “What, Thor, didst thou the while?”
Thor spake:
37. “In Hlesey the brides | of the Berserkers slew I;
Most evil they were, | and all they betrayed.”
[133]
Harbarth spake:
38. “Shame didst thou win, | that women thou slewest, Thor.”